


Revealed

by Ordinarily



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, it's a bit of a mess idk, turned kinda angsty oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 02:55:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9156778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ordinarily/pseuds/Ordinarily
Summary: He jumped to his feet to see Ladybug pinned to the ground, unable to move. Even worse, her earrings were ticking. As much as he wanted to see who was under the mask, he'd made a promise and intended to keep it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [outoftime (Ladybug comic)](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/252301) by she-sells-seagulls. 



> This was written before I watched the second half of season 1, therefore some things in the story don't correlate with the events of the show. Enjoy!

"Chat noir!" she called after him, fighting off the possessed citizens. "Grab her headband!"

But he hadn't been quick enough. He crashed to ground as maniacal laughter filled the air. "You'll never stop me," Demonica cackled.

How ironic that it was Chloe behind the mask. _Who would've guessed?_ Adrien thought, with an air of sarcasm. He jumped to his feet to see Ladybug pinned to the ground, unable to move. Even worse, her earrings were ticking. As much as he wanted to see who was under the mask, he'd made a promise and intended to keep it.

"Chat noir!" she called again, and he abruptly flipped around to see mounds of humans inching closer to him.

 

* * *

"I'd use my claws, but I can't exactly put them to use while tied up."

"And I've already used my Lucky Charm."

"Speaking of, aren't you going to transform soon?"

"Yep," she said with a sigh, "I've got approximately—say—30 seconds."

"I won't look," he tried. "I promise."

"You're not going to have much of a choice."

He paused at that. "What do you mean?"

"Do you see any food around? Specifically, chocolate chip cookies?"

"Hm. No... You're right. I guess you're going to see me too."

"You used your Cataclysm?"

Though she already knew, based off the clicking of his ring.

"You didn't think I was gonna let Demonica get away that easy, did ya?"

A small pin fell from his closed fist, and rolled a few feet away from the tied up pair.

"You got the pin?!" she all but squealed.

"But not the headband..." he countered, disappointment lacing his tone.

The clicking was rapid-fire now, and she took in a deep breath, preparing for the transformation. A ring of light engulfed her and she was back to Marinette, with a tired looking Tikki floating in front of her.

"Hey, girl," she cooed. "Think you might have a little bit of energy left?"

Tikki nodded and began working at the ropes securely tied to the power-duo's wrists. A few moments later, there was another woosh and Chat Noir was now back to his alter-ego.

"Guess this is it..." he said softly, as Plagg began aiding a collapsing Tikki.

"Yep," she whispered, slowly inching forward from where her back was pressed to his.

She cradled Tikki in her open palms and gently slipped her into her small purse. Adrien, however, was much less patient, turning on his heels to finally see who his love-interest was. What Marinette was not expecting was to be tackled to the ground. Much less by him.

Her senses were on high alert as their eyes met. "Adrien?!" she shrieked, covering her face with her hands.

" _You're_ Ladybug?" he inquired, disbelief in his voice.

He zipped open her bag in a hurried frenzy, only to see a tiny red bug sound asleep, confirming his suspicions.

" _You're_ Chat Noir?" she cried, "you've got to be kidding me!"

"Hey, why's that such a crime?" he asked, helping her to her feet.

"I—I just... You're so... different."

"You're one to talk, Miss Confidence."

"Yeah, well I can't take all the credit for that," she retorted, gesturing to her bag. "Alright, now how are we going to get out of this? One of us could create a distraction while the other one sneaks out..."

"That's my girl," he added, smirk playing on his lips.

"Chat—Adrien, I swear to—cookies!"

"Cookies?"

"Cookies!" she exclaimed, running over to a nearby platter on the window ledge.

"Cookies... In the attic of an old building? Marinette wait—!"

But it was too late. Zaps of pink surrounded the girl, forming a glass cage. One she couldn't get out of by merely pounding her fists against it.

"Milady!" he yelled, out of force of habit, rushing to her side and taking his own turn to pound against the glass.

It was no use. They stared at each other through rose-stained glass, desperation mirrored in their expressions.

"Plagg?" he commanded, searching desperately for the little Kwami.

"I'm sorry, Adrien," the cat-like creature whispered. "I can't."

"We've gotta get you some Camembert..." uttered the boy.

"Adrien!" she called from the cage, "The pin!"

"You don't think...?"

"It was where she was getting her powers from!"

He braced himself—for what, he wasn't quite sure—and slowly pushed the pin into the glass. Cracks spread like wildfire throughout the glass, creating intricate designs. She worried for a moment that it would shatter from the inside, spilling over top of her, but luckily it held its own. She delivered a hard punch, just to the right of the pin, enough to shatter the glass outwards and setting her free.

"Well, that's one way to do it," she declared, smiling at Adrien who'd taken several steps back to avoid the glass.

She'd expected a high-five or at least a smile _or something_ from him, but instead was met with a face of worry. "Marinette... Your hand..." he managed.

A small noise escaped her lips as she examined the blood running from her knuckles. She hadn't even really felt the blow, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

"It's okay, I can worry about it later," she tried, offering another smile.

"Yeah, maybe you can, but I can't," he insisted, leading her carefully away from the shards littering the floor beneath her.

He shrugged off his dress shirt, revealing the black tee underneath and bandaged her hand to the best of his abilities under the current circumstances. His heart stopped when he took notice of the sheer white material being stained in red. Her breathing was shallow and wheezy and he'd wondered how he'd never figured out her secret. Some partner he was.

She grabbed a few cookies off the platter (turned out they were real!), and dropped them in her purse. Just as they were getting ready to find a source of energy for Plagg, Demonica came floating up the stairs.

"Hey, not so fast Love-bug!" she drawled, only to realize the so-called love-bug was gone, along with her partner in crime. Two mere teenagers were in their place, and she scoffed, turning away and demanding which direction they'd headed off to.

Relief filled Marinette but was cut short when Demonica whirled around, pointing directly at her. "You! You're her!" she yelled.

She was about to deny it, before realizing Hawk Moth was whispering to her. There was no getting out of this one.

"Run," she told Adrien, "There's a hotel across the street."

He nodded and took off, sprinting down the stairs. A quick transformation later, and there she was, fighting both her sworn enemy and biggest fan. Oh, the irony of life.

"Pretty dumb idea for you to leave the cookies, if you ask me. Thanks for letting me regenerate, though," she taunted.

"It was supposed to be a trap!" the other girl hissed. "Although I'd like to thank you for returning me my pin."

The outline of a pitch fork formed in her left hand, coloured in moments later, and put to good use after that.

"Wow, Demonica really is a fitting name, isn't it?"

She hadn't exactly meant to say it out loud, but it'd slipped and now she prayed for Adrien's return.

 

* * *

Two hours later, and Marinette sat on the prestige counter in the prestige bathroom of the prestige house that belonged to her formerly unknown partner.

"Really, Adrien, it's okay."

"No it's not," he replied coldly, still dabbing hydrogen peroxide over her wounds.

Demonica was back to Chloe, their secrets were back to safe, and the city was back to normal.

"We've gotta be more careful..."

"We _are_ careful. Things happen. Look, it doesn't matter."

"Yes it does! If Plagg took a little more time to eat or I didn't run as fast..."

His voice was beginning to rise and she shrunk back into the elegant counter. He thought he was finally getting a message across until her eyebrows knitted and she straightened up, looking directly in his eyes.

"I'm not a child, I can take care of myself. This is only because you know who I am, now, isn't it? God, I knew this—"

She was cut off by his palms cupping her face and his lips on hers, warmth spreading through her body. She melted into the kiss, forgetting the quarrel, and returning the passion in his movements.

He finally pulled back, hands still on her cheeks and looked her directly in the eyes. "I care about you, Milady. Doesn't matter who you're dressed as; I don't want you hurt."

"I..."

"Stay the night?"

She flinched at his statement turning her head any which way except his direction. "I—uh—Adrien—I"

"No, no come on, you haven't done that all night, you're not going to start now."

"Haven't done what?"

"Your nervous stumbling-over-my-words-and-tripping-over-my-feet thing."

He was scared he'd offended her for a moment, but then she laughed. "I guess I just never felt... nervous around Cat Noir."

"Yeah, well you don't need to be nervous around me either. We _are_ the same person, ya know?"

"Alright, okay, fine."

"So you'll stay?"

"I... Don't know. What would my parents think?"

"You can call them and let them know. It's late; they wouldn't want you walking home. We don't even have to sleep, we can watch movies or something. I just... Have to be near you tonight." 

A phone call and change of clothes later and Marinette was sitting on the king-sized bed placed in the centre of Adrien's room. She fiddled with the hem of one of his old t-shirts, taking laboured breaths.

"How's Plagg?" she asked when he strolled back in the room with two mugs of hot chocolate.

"He's good. Ate to his heart's content. What about... Tikki, was it?"

The little bug popped out from her makeshift home on the floor besides the bedroom door and gave a thumbs up, before sinking back into the purse. Marinette sat further back on the bed, removing her earrings gently and placing them in front of her crossed legs. The blonde gave her a wary look before slipping off his own miraculous and setting it across from hers. A brief glow was emitted from the jewelry, before dulling back to normalcy.

"Well that was anti-climactic," he muttered.

She let out a soft laugh and nodded her head in agreement, scooping up the miraculouses and placing them in his palm.

"Keep them safe."

He gave her a small smile before setting them into the drawer of his nightstand.

"Do you ever get the feeling Hawk Moth is watching us?"

"Well now I'll never be able to sleep again, thank you for that," he said fluctuating his words for comedic effect.

"No it's just that... Chloe knew who I was. Which means Hawk Moth knows. He has the upper hand... He could take us by surprise while we're not Ladybug or Cat Noir and..." she trailed off.

"We'll be okay," he murmured, taking her hands in his, being careful to not grab too hard at her bandaged one.

"You think?"

"We're a good team."

Shifting to lie on her back, she leaned against Adrien's side, surprised when his arms came to wrap around her.

"Must be nice living here..."

"Oh, yeah. Super nice coming home to an empty house every night."

"Guess it's lonely, huh?"

He nodded solemnly. Both their voices were low and hushed, though neither was quite sure why.

"Well you're welcome at my place anytime."

"Oh yeah? I can just pop in through the terrace?"

She laughed at this, shifting in his arms to look back at the large tv screen.

Mr. Agreste, his ear pressed up against the door to his son's bedroom listened closely. He straightened up, walking stiffly—almost robotically—towards his room. A full framed picture of the Agreste family was hung above the king sized bed and Gabriel stood as stiff as ever, shutting the door. Finally, when he was sure he was truly alone, he collapsed on the bed, weak limbs giving out. Adrien Agreste, his son, his perfect model son, was Chat Noir. He'd been trying to harm his son for years on end, stopping at nothing to get his miraculous.

_He could've been killed._

_By him._

They were kids, he realized, finally. Shame washed over him as he sat, head bowed to his knees. Ladybug and Chat Noir were kids. He'd been trying to harm kids, for what?—a little bit of power?

How dare he?

Tears cascading down his cheeks, Gabriel looked up to the photograph, letting out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry," he whispered, voice trembling and broken. "I'm so sorry."


End file.
